Cuz I loves me a glass of milk.

Written on Thursday, May 29, 2008 by Jessica

The text of each email contains the word "Watch" with a link that probably downloads a rocking keylogger or something.

I guess the intent of these messages is to prey on the YouTube generation. "OMG! Does someone have video of me when I was trashed at Ethan's party last Friday night?? I should totally follow this link to see!"

Written on Monday, May 26, 2008 by Jessica

Our house is infested with mosquitoes this year. We don't know where they're coming from. It's bad enough to prompt us to wear mosquito repellent indoors.

And poor Seth. He was eaten alive the night before last. I put him to sleep without any pants on. He hates sleeping in pants. I thought he was wearing repellent, but Bob had cleaned him up with a washcloth, so this means that I sent the child, half naked, into a cloud of mosquitoes to be chewed up and spit out.

Yesterday, in additional to all his mosquito bites, he got stung by a bee—to be more specific, probably by a hornet or yellowjacket (although yellowjackets are said to typically sting repeatedly, whereas this one stung once and tried to fly away). I feel terrible because I'd been on my cell phone and not watching him closely, even though he was standing right next to me. :(

Written on Saturday, May 24, 2008 by Jessica

I don't want to limit Seth by assuming he can't do something, but I still find myself underestimating him all the time.

And I always say I'm going to stop underestimating him (and little kids in general), but he still manages to surprise me. Take birds. He watches the birds eating from the feeders outside our window, and he can correctly identify finches, mourning doves (he just says "doves"), and woodpeckers (he calls them "peckers" -- love it). He also recognizes humming birds, but he thinks they're "peckers," I guess due to the long beak. We're also working on red breasted grossbeaks. "Grossbeak" is a pretty hard word to say, though, and we don't see too many of them, so it might take awhile. Or maybe I'm just underestimating him again...

Written on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 by Jessica

Written on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 by Jessica

Seth seems to think that flying bugs are called fuzzies. We have a wasp problem in our porch. As he watched one flying around, he kept saying, "Fuzzy!" (Fuh-ZEE!) He said the same thing the other night when we were driving home and he spotted some moths in the headlights.

Written on Saturday, May 10, 2008 by Jessica

Seth thinks that "thank you" means, "Please take this." I guess he got that idea because whenever he handed something to someone, they said, "Thank you." Before long, he started saying "thank you" as he handed something to someone else.

Just now, he was in another room calling, "Thank you. Thank you!" -- which meant, "Mommy, please take this knitting needle."

Written on Tuesday, May 06, 2008 by Jessica

Back in the day when we were "poor" (I was a student and Bob was the only wage earner), I used to make my own laundry detergentt. It's a lot cheaper.

Given the current economic conditions, I've decided to start doing that again. If anyone else is interested in this, here are some tips:

One of the ingredients, Fels Naptha laundry bar soap, can be hard to find locally. (It pretty much depends on where you live.) Fortunately, they're easy to find online and small, so cheap to ship. Just Google it.

Another one of the ingredients, washing soda, can also be hard to find. Arm & Hammer makes it, and so does Church & Dwight. (Actually, I think they're both part of the same company.) I ordered some just today directly from Church & Dwight because it is not sold around here for miles and miles. I received free shipping b/c I'm a new customer, which is cool b/c they charge $5.99 to ship a 3.5 lb box. (The box itself costs $3.99.) HOWEVER, washing soda is just sodium carbonate, which is easily purchased at home stores (Home Depot, Lowe's, etc.) in the pool section.

Written on Thursday, May 01, 2008 by Jessica

I feel somewhat like a responsible parent today, as I have just opened a 529 college savings account for Seth.

We went with Michigan's plan because it has low fees and for the tax advantages. It wasn't among Morningstar's top-five plans, but they did commend it for low fees and reasonable performance. Because we're Michigan residents, it tax deductible at the Federal and state level and we're also entitled to a small state match.

We thought hard about Michigans prepaid tuition plan (where you buy tomorrow's tuition at today's rates), but that limits Seth to a Michigan college and university. What if my little prodigy wants to go to MIT?